Catherine Raynor

Catherine Raynor's page

Fundraising for Tommy’s, the pregnancy and baby charity
£3,913
raised of £3,386 target
Donations cannot currently be made to this page
Event: Virgin London Marathon 2016, on 24 April 2016
We exist to save babies' lives to and make pregnancy birth safer for all

Story

My new niece was meant to join Auntie Catherine as a winter baby. She arrived 13 weeks early in the summer. In the UK 80,000 babies are born too soon each year. Only 6000 or so are born before 28 weeks. So she is stand out already! Extremely premature babies spend the first months of their life in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. They frequently weigh less than 1000g. Their internal organs are not yet fully developed. Their heads may be smaller than a lemon. The skill and care that goes into keeping them alive is remarkable.

I was pretty sure I would try and run another marathon. Frankly, when you come in one minute and 28 seconds over an hour mark (6.01.28) you really do need to try a bit harder. Like not stop and talk so much. But I didn’t really plan on doing another fundraiser quite so soon - you were all so very generous last time. But life happens and when you feel so utterly useless in the face of something so monumental happening to those you love most, and you are bowled with admiration for how they are coping, you cling to the things you can do. So I here I am.

On 24th April I will be running the London Marathon for Tommy’s, the charity funding research into stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage. They are amazing. They fund three research centres in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. A fourth will open in 2016. Their research is rolled out across the country so families all across the country benefit from the expertise they help develop.

My niece came home in time for Christmas. Not sure any of us need any other presents this year. Thanks for visiting my page and thank you for anything you can give.

Catherine xx

Share this story

Help Catherine Raynor

Sharing this page with your friends could help raise up to 3x more in donations

You can also help by sharing this link on

About the charity

Tommy's funds medical research into the causes of premature birth, stillbirth and miscarriage. We’re dedicated to finding causes and treatments to save babies’ lives as well as providing trusted pregnancy and baby loss information and support.

Donation summary

Total raised
£3,912.91
+ £837.75 Gift Aid
Online donations
£3,886.71
Offline donations
£26.20

* Charities pay a small fee for our service. Find out how much it is and what we do for it.